delucafam

Have Baptism to attend in Lille, France. Hope to fly to Venice around June 5 and use Abano Terme as sort of "home base". Have 6-8 days. Any adivce on what to try and do? How easy is transportation? Thanks

Italyagain

We are doing the same thing his year. Its quite opposed to my preferred "Slow travel" way of doing things but for one week, I will endure. We are staying in Padua -renting an apartment, and will do Vicenza, Bassano, Ravenna, Venice, and a couple Villas. Maybe Ferrera or Verano. From the postings-and there are many so do a search, it appears that this is a routine tourist thing, and easy to do. Many folks prefer to rent a car and hit several towns a day. But parking can be a pain. The trenitalia website has schedules. The gliche is Sat and Sunday when there are fewer trains and buses-so carefully plan those days. You will see postings of folks who found themselves stranded because of limited bus service. Also plan where you will end up over lunch hour-because you might have 2-3 hours to cool your heels waiting for things to open. We are trying to pinpoint churches or musuems that don't close over lunch. We are also looking at getting a week train pass-so anyone who has done this trip, and compared the costs-would love to hear from. We also rented the Rick Steve's video of his wanderings through the Veneto-the islands around Venice look like fun. Do read the old postings, and if anyone has new news or thoughts-love to hear.

delucafam

Thaks for ideas. Didn't think about renting videos. Enjoy!

Steve_James

Del - Besides Venice, Vicenza, Bassano, Padova and Ravenna, I'd add Verona, Lake Garda, Treviso, Asolo ...

Or ... for spectacular mountain scenery, head for the Dolomites.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Italyagain

Steve- we are thinking of going up to the Dolomites for a daytrip-especially if there is another one of those heat waves. We are thinking Cortina as that name pops up a lot on this site, but would not be able to do much more than get there, go up a lift, and then turn around and come back. Is there maybe a better one day destination-going from Padua via the train? We will be spending an entire week near Tarvisio-will Cortina be a different experience?(BTW We did add Asolo to the list-on the way to Villa Barbaro.)

Traviata

Italyagain,

If you are in Padua for a stay, likely you already have the Scrovegni Chapel on your list....if not, I recommend it highly..it was magnificent!

Not far from Villa Barbero is the town of Fanzolo where the Villa Emo is located.....and glad you added Asolo, one of our favorites...think you will really like it.

Steve_James

Italyagain - For a day-trip from Padova by public transport it's really a choice between Cortina or San Martino di Castrozza for best Dolomite scenery.

Cortina would be 4 hrs+ each way.
San Martino would be about 2.5 (1hr 30' to Feltre, then bus)

Are you going in high season? Some of the lifts have a relatively short summer opening season ...

Steve

Italyagain

Ooof. Thanks. 4 hours each way is long-even with good scenery. Maybe we will pass or rent a car one day if its hot, and see how far we get. We are going beginning of July. Or we will just do Cortina and Val Gardena on the next trip. There always has to be a next trip!